Category Archives: Very Quick Meals

I don’t often make brussel sprouts as I am the only person in my house who cares for them. I bought some at market the other day with intentions of a home made kale, cabbage and brussel sprout salad but then yesterday started considering alternatives that aren’t smothered creamy poppy seed dressing. I landed on wanting to roast the lovely little things, but I also wanted to eat within 10 minutes so I adapted a quick roasting method from The Kitchn to make it even easier (and smoke free).

The result was perfectly charred brussels within 10 minutes of turning on the oven. They are so much better than the kind that is roasted into submission for 30-45min (sometimes even an hour!) in most recipes. The result here is an inside that is tender but still has some substance, just like with roasted brussel sprouts that you usually get in a high end resturant.

Quick Roasted Brussel Sprouts

in only 10 min!

Fresh brussel sprouts

Oil (I used 1tb of grapeseed and 1tb olive)

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Turn on broil and place cookie sheet on middle rack.

Meanwhile wash then cut the ends of the sprouts off and let the first few outer layer leaves fall away.

Cut sprouts in half, giant ones can be quartered.

Dump on cookie sheet and toss in oil and salt and pepper, then arrange them so they are cut side down.

Cook 5 minutes or until lightly charred.

Take cookie sheet out – if bottoms of sprouts aren’t nicely caramalized just leave them on the cookie sheet a few minutes (still out of the oven) to cook the bottoms a little more.

Full disclosure- Violet wasn’t even here during the making of this dish as Grandmas are freakin’ wonderful and she had a V day sleepover. She did arrive home during the “enjoy” step however and snag some bacon (for what I am told is her FOURTH breakfast haha – she just might be a hobbit.)

I, like everyone else on the internet apparently, first wanted to make this dish after seeing it prepared on V for Vendetta, a great film.

V makes eggies

The marvel of V being able to make the eggies is that he was able to score real butter during a time of strict rations. I’ve seen a few very,very wrong recipes for this dish out there, but even the most misguided seems to grasp the base principal; this dish is all about the butter.

There are only three things you need (in addition to a pan and spatula, come now don’t be so literal), good bread, good eggs and, of course, butter!

Our Valentines Day Breakfast

Eggies in a Basket

Turn frying pan to medium and melt 1 tablespoon of butter per piece of bread.

Tear a hole in centre of each slice.

Once butter is melted, place bread in pan for a few seconds then flip, ensuring both sides have sucked up some buttery goodness.

Crack an egg into a wee bowl and carefully pour into centre of each slice (or crack directly in bread hole if you are a pro).

Once the whites have started to firm up a little and turn white (this only takes a minute or two), get a spatula out but before you flip, get another tablespoon of butter ready and throw it in and melt a bit beside the bread, then flip bread and let it soak up all that melted butter.

Many recipes say to wait a few minutes at this point but that will result in over cooked eggs. If you want some runny yoke, remove from the pan as soon as both sides of bread are nicely browned and crisp.

Even though my husband and I are not vegetarian every once in a while we like to have a meatless main course which helps to cut down on both meal costs and calories.

I used to make a dish similar to this but with cous cous and Mediterranean seasonings and always used to use acorn squash. However my CSA share has yielded a great variety of squashes including delicata, carnival and red kuri.
*Any squash that can hold stuffing would be fine in this recipe but the carnival squash really was divine and all three of the aforementioned squashes have edible skins; just give them a good scrub before baking like you would a potato.

I cheated a little and used a bistro package of pre cooked unseasoned basmati rice which was heated slightly less than directed in the microwave one minute but we are quite picky eaters and it was very good! All was devoured and little miss Violet really enjoyed hers.

Place squash cut-side up on a baking sheet, brush with 2 tablespoons of melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and a little salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until just fork tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, place 1 tablespoon of the melted butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When it foams, add the onion, shallots, carrot and celery, season with salt and pepper, and stir to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until just softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the thyme and cook until just fragrant, about 1 minute.

Remove from the heat and stir in the rice, pecans, cranberries/raisins, chickpeas, the majority of the pomegranate seeds and measured salt and pepper.

Divide the rice filling among the roasted squash halves (about 1/2 cup for each) and drizzle the remaining tablespoon of butter over top. Continue roasting until the squash is completely fork tender, the edges have started to brown, and the filling is heated through, about 20 to 25 minutes.

A few weeks ago tomatillos made their way into my kitchen for the first time by way of my – you guessed it – CSA share from Sweet Pea. Since then I have made a variety of salsas with these lovely little devils, and have this conversation about a dozen times whenever I serve salsa verde:

Snacker: “What is this ? It is really good!”

Me: “It is salsa verde – aka green salsa”

Snacker: “So…it’s salsa made with green tomatoes?”

Me: “No – it’s made from tomatillos”

Snacker: “What the heck are those?”

Then after I explain what a tomatillo is someone else walks into the room and the whole thing starts over again like a never ending Abbott and Costello joke. For some reason I love explaining things so I don’t mind this at all.

Tomatillos are a relative of tomatoes and are called “tomato verde” (green tomato) in Mexico but are quite different from tomatoes. These tangy little gems grow in a husk and are quite firm, even when completely ripe. I find they have notes of citrus and are almost creamy when roasted. They have a very light and pleasant yet totally distinct flavour – I love them!

To prepare them for cooking, just peel off the little paper husk and rinse off the sticky residue – no peeling or seeding needed.

On quite a few sites I have seen storage tips that say you can either leave them on the counter or in the fridge. According to Amanda McCracken (Owner of Sweet Pea C.S.A), this is incorrect. Tomatillos should be stored (in their husks) on the counter. This makes sense as their tomato cousins are never to be put in the fridge as they become mushy and tasteless. I have read a few things saying you can freeze them sliced or whole but have not tried this yet (look forward to a future post all about produce storage!)

There are three main ways to make salsa verde; boiling/blanching the tomatillos, roasting them, or blending them up raw.

I avoided the boiling method as reviewers said it produced a watery salsa. Roasting the tomatillos (along with the peppers and garlic as you can see below) made for a nice flavour, but the color was quite dark. A few batches later, a combination of fresh tomatoes, tomatillos, and roasted tomatoes and tomatillos made the BEST salsa verde ever!

Many thanks to A Cedar Spoon for the inspiration in using the tomatillos raw.

Place 1/2 of husked and rinsed tomatillos, the grape tomatoes, and the hot pepper(s) if you are using them. Drizzle oil and some salt and pepper over and roll around to coat.

Bake at 400 f for 10 minutes or until slightly blackened.

Add in with all other ingredients in a blender or food processor.

The garlic and spiciness factor will grow as the salsa is refrigerated, so go easy on these as you can always add more. Good for at least a week in the fridge.

* I have tried this with several different kinds of peppers (cherry bomb, cayenne, etc.) and find the heat level varies so much it is better to just use some red pepper flakes- a jalapeno would be good as well though.

As a new mom I can really appreciate a recipe that has few ingredients, a brief prep and cooking time, and the ability to satisfy.If I can’t do most of it while holding a baby, it just might not get done. Moms have to multitask. There is just too much to get done! Even now as I am typing this I am nursing the wee Violet, planning dinner for tonight in the back of my head, and having a belated breakfast.

My in-laws came for dinner this week, and I knew I needed to find something low carb and pork or beef based to feed them that would be super quick (my MIL has dietary restrictions). A quick scan of the interwebs and I found this recipe for grilled pork chops and 10 minutes later I was back from the store with some lovely loin chops (*my husband was trained as a butcher and always tells me when choosing meat to pick anything with the word “loin” in it for lots of flavour). For the Italian seasoning, I highly recommend the PC Italian Seasoning grinder, which is my most used spice and the best commercial seasoning I have ever found. Sometimes when I adapt a recipe, it takes a few goes to get it right but this one was a winner right from the get-go. Our guests loved it, I used up all the super sweet cherry tomatoes from my CSA share, and there was minimal cleanup. Welcome to the weekly line up, Grilled Italian Pork Chops- I hope you enjoy your stay 🙂

Grilled Italian Pork Chops

serves 4

6 pork chops*

1 cup of Italian salad dressing

1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes

a few tablespoons of grape seed or olive oil

6 sandwich size slices of mozzarella

Italian seasoning**

salt and pepper

small handful of basil, chopped

___

Place pork chops in bag or dish and coat with dressing. Marinate for 15 minutes to overnight.

Place tomatoes on foil lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and salt and pepper.

Roast at 400 for 20 minutes or until a little browned/blackened on top. Set aside.

Oil and preheat grill to medium-high. Place chops on grill and sprinkle with salt and pepper and some Italian seasoning.

Grill for 2-4 minutes, then do a quarter turn (for nice grill marks) and grill for another 2-4 minutes (depending on thickness of chops). Flip and grill for another 2-4 minutes. Do another quarter turn then layer on your cheese, tomatoes (a few per chop) and basil and grill for the remaining 2- 4 minutes for a total of 8-16 minutes (roughly).

Today the beautiful and wonderful miss baby Violet did not want to be put down while I made myself something to eat and the cupboards were a little bare. Out of chia, bread, granola, nuts and running low on fruit – what is a gal to eat ? Something at least semi-nutritious that can be made with one hand…Well, within a few minutes I had a little bowl of warm heaven. I A few minutes after that I had 3 more bags ready to go for another day. We’ll see if I get to eat them or if they are poached by my lovely food-tasting and thieving husband. This tastes very similar to a package of instant oatmeal you might buy, but you can control the sugar and salt and the cost is much less (this can be as low as 3 cents a packet!).

My recipe only has a slight modification from the recipe at The Spice House and this is a great source for some info about how different types of cinnamon might effect the taste.

Do you have leftover meatballs ? Do yourself a favour and create this protein- packed upgrade to the childhood classic grilled cheese.

I searched many recipes before I came up with this one and took something I liked from each one – the result was a very delicious and substantial sandwich that was NOT soggy as I had feared (this has kept me from trying any meatball based sandwiches my entire life !).

Try this and you too soon might find yourself making a few extra meatballs on spaghetti night to ensure meatball grilled cheese night can directly follow!

Meatball Grilled Cheese

Nice hearty bakery bread like a French or Italian loaf

Medium cheddar (about 1/2 cup per sandwich)

Mozzarella (same amount as cheddar per sandwich)

minced garlic (one clove will do 6 sandwiches or more)

Butter – enough to liberally cover both sides of all your bread

Meatballs (about 4 per sandwich)

Marinara sauce* (about 2-3 tablespoons per sandwich)

Salt and Pepper

—–

Put meatballs in a small pot on stove covered in the marinara sauce to heat up

slice the bread thickly

Butter both sides, season with salt and pepper, and put a few bits of the minced garlic on each side.

Brown all of your slices in a preheated nonstick pan – flip over and while the other side is grilling add cheddar to half your bread and mozzarella to the other half.

That’s a mountain of cheese ! Give it as long as you can to cook and then once your bread is grilled to perfection, flip over with the cheese side down and cook for 30 seconds or so until the cheese is melted.

Assemble immediately by putting 4 meatballs and a few spoons of sauce between a slice of cheddar garlic bread and a slice of mozzarella garlic bread. DIVINE !

*add a tsp of cinnamon to your marinara sauce and make it Greek style – it is SO good!